An October surprise for Walker...in June

No, Governor Scott Walker did not father a love child in college and abandon the baby and its mother. As it turns out, the mother denied it was the governor's child. And a columnist for the JSOnline tracked down the woman in question and discovered there was a suit in family court against Scott Alan Walker, not Governor Scott Kevin Walker.But the story makes for a classic smear job, coming out 3 days before the recall election. The columnist Daniel Bice corresponded with a Daily Kos blogger who was helping spread the rumor:

I am getting a lot of emails because of this post. Two things: (1) I tracked down and talked to Dr. Gillick's freshman-year roommate at MU yesterday, and she adamantly denies that Walker is the father of her child. Yes, she got pregnant as a first-year student, but she believes Dr. Gillick is mixing up stories; and (2) I Can Read CCAP has taken a family court suit involving Scott Alan Walker and mixed it up with the governor, Scott Kevin Walker.

Laughably, the Daily Kos blogger holds out hope that someone was impersonating Bice:

Did you write this comment or were you impersonated?

Evidently, the Kossack wasn't the only loony leftist with that nutty idea:

Yeah - I got 20-some emails about this apparently bogus rumor. My managing editor suggested that I make what i knew clear to the numerous people calling and writing in based on the prof's email.

We don't generally do stories shooting down rumors, so I went to the blog and posted what I knew.

Minor detail: I am a MJS columnist.

Thankfully, this smear never made the jump to the mainstream media. But a PPP poll showing only a 3 point Walker lead is being widely reported. PPP is a Democratic pollster, and while their methodology can be questioned, the results are still within the margin of error of other polls.

It may very well be a nail biter tomorrow night.

No, Governor Scott Walker did not father a love child in college and abandon the baby and its mother. As it turns out, the mother denied it was the governor's child. And a columnist for the JSOnline tracked down the woman in question and discovered there was a suit in family court against Scott Alan Walker, not Governor Scott Kevin Walker.

But the story makes for a classic smear job, coming out 3 days before the recall election. The columnist Daniel Bice corresponded with a Daily Kos blogger who was helping spread the rumor:

I am getting a lot of emails because of this post. Two things: (1) I tracked down and talked to Dr. Gillick's freshman-year roommate at MU yesterday, and she adamantly denies that Walker is the father of her child. Yes, she got pregnant as a first-year student, but she believes Dr. Gillick is mixing up stories; and (2) I Can Read CCAP has taken a family court suit involving Scott Alan Walker and mixed it up with the governor, Scott Kevin Walker.

Laughably, the Daily Kos blogger holds out hope that someone was impersonating Bice:

Did you write this comment or were you impersonated?

Evidently, the Kossack wasn't the only loony leftist with that nutty idea:

Yeah - I got 20-some emails about this apparently bogus rumor. My managing editor suggested that I make what i knew clear to the numerous people calling and writing in based on the prof's email.

We don't generally do stories shooting down rumors, so I went to the blog and posted what I knew.

Minor detail: I am a MJS columnist.

Thankfully, this smear never made the jump to the mainstream media. But a PPP poll showing only a 3 point Walker lead is being widely reported. PPP is a Democratic pollster, and while their methodology can be questioned, the results are still within the margin of error of other polls.